The Obama administration seems to have taken a page out of the late night talk show playbook, because it's reportedly concerned about its own ratings in the 18-35 demographic.

The phrase “government IT contract” tends to make people think of things like gray metal filing cabinets and dusty ledgers full of indecipherable municipal code – very boring. But the proverbial train wreck that has precipitated since the launch of HealthCare.gov in October has the public paying close attention lately. The news of health-care portal contractor CGI Federal being replaced by Accenture was even recently featured in a comedy bit on Jimmy Kimmel Live, as shown above.

The Obama administration seems to have taken a page out of the late night talk show playbook, because it's reportedly concerned about their own ratings in the 18-35 demographic. Less than 25 percent of the 2.2 million people who have signed up through HealthCare.gov are in the 18-35 age group, well short of the 38 to 40 percent goal that the feds hope to reach when the sign-up season ends March 31.

Several contractors interviewed by Government Technology, including Oracle, reported that being able to effectively market health-care exchanges to young people would be critical to the success of Obama’s Affordable Healthcare Act.

Today, more than half of those signed up on HealthCare.gov are between the ages of 45 and 64, a group that is typically less healthy and more expensive to cover than younger groups, according to data released on Monday by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

The HHS reported, however, that they are confident that current trends are headed toward “an appropriate mix.” Others point out that a shrinking middle class in the American economy has many young people in a financial position where buying health insurance is viewed as a luxury they simply cannot afford.